DISCLAIMER: I gave the bit to a Xolo named Dante, but something happened on the day of the dead. The dog and the bid disappeared. Next thing I know, everyone was looking for a kid, and no one knew about the dog. So I still don't own Zootopia.

Thanks to GusTheBear and TheoreticallyEva for editing this chapter!


The next week dragged by for Judy. She hated being cooped up at home while her compatriots were out there fighting to restore the city. Even though Nick was there with her, it still felt like a form of prison. A week after the raids, Bogo had announced that the city parks were once again open, as part of a structured reopening of the city. A day later, the news had reported that the first ship had finally been allowed to dock at the Zootopia Port container terminal.

From what her friends on the force had said, the ships given priority were the ones carrying essential medical supplies. Anyone else had to sit and wait. This had caused a lot of discontent among the crews of the other ships, one of which had gone on camera commenting that theirs was the first one into the harbor after the port was closed, and they were running low on food onboard. They hadn't been allowed to dock, since their cargo of jet fuel wasn't considered essential. A day later, the news had reported choppers flying supplies out to the ships still in the harbor.

That in turn had caused public outcry, with many stating that foreign ships shouldn't be given precious resources over Zootopia's own citizens. The outcry only died down after several farms, including that of Judy's family, went on record to explain that the food was actually surplus that would otherwise have gone to waste due to the lack of recent exports.

On Wednesday, Judy and Nick had gotten the chance to visit Marian again, and the three had shared a nice lunch and afternoon together before the duo headed home with a ride from Liz Fangmeyer. The guard shifts typically switched during "shift change" periods for the rest of the city—around 9:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m., and once in the dead of night. The cars used were all the same unmarked model to help sell the illusion that it was just another mammal going to or coming home from work.

Marian herself had adjusted well to life in the safehouse, though she had commented more than once that she had a massive case of cabin fever, unable to even go outside.

Thursday was spent with their union representative, going over their actions on the day of the raids with a fine-tooth comb. The wolf had left Nick and Judy's apartment happy, saying that they didn't have anything to worry about. Privately, though, Judy worried that there was still some mistake that she or Nick had made that would ruin either—or both—of their careers.

On Friday, both Nick and Judy had spent the day with Nolwazi Longtooth, who was also confined to desk duty, thanks to her arm. They caught up on the goings-on at the precinct, including not only what little they hadn't already heard, but also the details of the cases in which they'd been involved, such as the progress locating missing mammals.

That had been an extremely sobering conversation for all three of them. While the missing mammals reports had plateaued, and progress was being made to eliminate duplicate reports and match some of the John and Jane Does at the hospital up with them, it wasn't nearly enough. The number of unsolved cases was daunting.

Even more sobering was the number of confirmed decedents—a number Longtooth said was climbing hourly as more discoveries were made and reports rolled in from the hospitals.

These were the sobering thoughts going through the duo's minds as they made their way through the doors of Precinct One for the first time in two weeks. So preoccupied were they that they didn't notice the fact that all of the voices stopped as soon as they crossed the threshold. However, Judy certainly noticed when someone yelled, "It's Judy!" Then the cacophony resumed, this time with several officers running up to her and her fox, asking how they were doing, if the doe needed anything, and why she was here at work when she should be resting. The first clap on her shoulder made her grunt in pain, and her colleagues backed off. Still, they peppered them with questions, many related to the doe's actions against Ramses and Hornby.

"Hopps. Wilde." Everyone was silenced when Bogo made his presence known. The chief had been watching from the sidelines and had decided to intervene before anyone could say anything about the case or the follow-up investigations. He looked around at the assembled mammals. "OK, if you want to throw a welcome back party, go buy a cake and do it on your own time. Everyone, dismissed!" He turned to the two smallest mammals in his employ. "My office. Now."

Nick glanced at the doe, a slightly worried expression on his face, before adopting his signature smirk. "Why, Chief, I didn't know you missed us so much. I feel so special!" The officers that hadn't already dispersed burst out laughing, with one spitting the water they'd been drinking all over the floor.

The chief glared at Nick. "I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who makes you feel special." There was a glint in his eye that let the smaller duo know exactly what he meant, and Judy exploded into a blush and a fit of giggles.

The chief led the two to the elevator, up to the third floor, and finally to his office, where he gestured for them to take a seat. The mountain goat who was standing next to the chief's desk let off an air that immediately unnerved the doe and made Nick's tail puff up. The two glanced at each other, sharing the look of unease. It was only slightly relieved by the presence of Richard Silverwolf.

They knew who the mountain goat was, of course, having been warned by Silverwolf, Liz Fangmeyer, and several others that the IA agent had it out for them. They'd practiced their responses to the questions they expected to be asked.

"Hopps. Wilde," Bogo said. "This is Charles Bucks of Internal Affairs, and his partner, Jonathan Woolson. You already know your union representative. Internal Affairs is here to get your side of the story about what happened on the raids two weeks ago." He gestured for Nick and Judy to take a seat, to which the fox and doe complied.

"Ms. Hopps, Wilde, glad you could join us." The mountain goat's greeting was anything but sincere, and the duo both noted the omission of the word 'officer' to address them, and that even a simple honorific was absent when he addressed Nick. The fox's ears twitched, and Judy knew he was fighting to not fold them backward in anger. His face bore only his easy grin.

"Glad to be here, Mr. Bucks. Officer Hopps and I would be glad to answer any questions you have, with the permission of our union representative, of course." The fox offered his paw for a shake, which the mountain goat flatly ignored.

Bucks sneered. "I'm sure your union representative has other things he can be doing. You won't need him for this."

Nick shook his head. "See, I'm pretty sure we'll want to have him here. I mean, we want to keep things fair, right? Unbiased opinion, no preconceived notions and all that? We all want that, right?" Judy had to fight to keep the smirk off her face. In one fell swoop, Nick had called the Internal Affairs mammal out for what he was while simultaneously shutting down any and all arguments that the mountain goat could devise. Silverwolf and Woolson allowed a small grin, while even Bogo's muzzle was twitching.

Bucks just looked infuriated, which was likely Nick's intended reaction, and he let out a huff. "Yes, we ALL want what's right. Now down to the topic at hoof…" He pulled out a notepad, pen, and voice recorder. "Tell me what happened during the raids two weeks ago."

Both Nick and Judy looked to Silverwolf, who nodded, his eyes narrowed at the mountain goat. "Go ahead, you two. I'll stop this conversation if things get out of paw."

The fox and doe began reiterating their experience from the moment the team left the abandoned Rainforest District precinct, the convoy up to the target, the initial breach and firefight in the office space, and then the warehouse. Bucks interrupted as they started to talk about the car chase. "So, you just ran off in pursuit of these mammals without any order from your supervising officer."

Nick smirked. "Correction, he didn't order us to stand down when we stated our intentions."

Judy nodded. "We never contravened an order."

Bucks frowned but gestured for them to continue with the story. The duo described the chase, trading off details every so often. Bucks next stopped them when they got out of their car after disabling the van. "And why didn't you notice that your radio was dead at this point?"

Judy frowned. "We heard the response from the helicopter that no one had yet left the vehicle. Our focus then was on securing the scene. They opened fire on us, and we didn't have time to wait for backup. By then, we were already in the middle of a gunfight."

Nick nodded. "I don't know about you fine folks, but I don't fancy being turned into Swiss cheese."

Silverwolf spoke up at this point. "Twenty-three bullet impacts on their cruiser, if you'll recall, Bucks." The canine's tone was even, but Judy could detect a hint of anger in it. She suppressed a grin.

Nick picked up the commentary from there, and the sneer on Bucks' face was just barely masked. The doe noted that the mountain goat took far fewer notes while the fox spoke, whereas his ram colleague didn't appear to act any different.

"So, you just left a mammal, clearly wounded and in need of medical assistance, to lie there in the snow?"

Nick gave a mock frown. "It sounds so cruel when you put it that way. I mean, we didn't even get to make that observation from a cushy office with heating and no deadly pieces of lead flying at us, unlike you. But no. Officer Hopps checked Ramses' pulse. There was none."

"And how do you know this?"

Nick's frown turned very real and slightly dangerous. "Because I trust my partner."

Bucks raised his left eyebrow, staring into the vulpine's eyes. Nick just stared right back, his gaze unwavering.

Judy didn't let the tense silence continue long. "Besides, as you yourself observed, our radios weren't working, and we had other things to worry about."

"Like not being run over or shot to death," Nick quipped, and Judy nodded her head in agreement. The fox continued detailing the plan they came up with to distract Hornby so that Nick could get into a position to put him to sleep.

"You didn't try and talk him down." It wasn't a question. Instead, it was accusatory.

It was Judy's turn to glare. "We did. Multiple times. When we first got out of the car and when we got up to the cab, I instructed him to surrender."

"You didn't give him a chance to respond the second time." The mountain goat's look was smug.

Nick snorted. "If you've watched the videos, bud, you'll know that he threatened to kick the door with Judy on it. You know, that's threatening an officer, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure that's still a thing. I hadn't heard of it changing. Not to mention the whole shooting at us thing. You know, bang, bang, you're dead? I'm pretty sure that counts for something. Besides, we just made him take a nice chemically-induced nap. It's actually pretty decent of us, all things considered."

Judy snickered, and Bogo's mouth twitched again. Silverwolf was grinning as well.

Bucks looked like he wanted to rip Nick's head off. 'Now that I think about it,' Judy mused, 'that may be exactly what Nick's trying to do—get under his skin so he makes a mistake.' She took a breath. "Don't forget the whole reason we got two weeks off, Nick." She pointed to the chest of her blue uniform shirt. She wasn't wearing her chest piece, so it made for easier breathing.

"Oh, yeah, how could I forget the fact that one of us had already gotten shot!" Nick's tone of voice dripped mockery as he pantomimed a thought flying out of his head and disappearing. "Let's see, opened fire first, refused to obey the instructions of a law enforcement officer, threatened an officer, while his partner had already injured said officer. I'd say putting him to sleep with a suitably sized tranquilizer dart is the appropriate response."

"More than appropriate, Nick. Remember, in firearms training, if the subject has already opened fire, we're trained to shoot to stop the subject." Judy glanced at Bogo and Silverwolf, both of them nodding almost imperceptibly.

"That's right. The things I forget these days." More mockery from the fox.

"You can laugh all you want, fox, but when Internal Affairs releases its report, you and your 'partner' will be out on the street where you belong," Bucks all but snarled.

"Wow. That sounded like a threat. I'm sure my union rep will be able to make good use of that. And my lawyer. You've heard of those, right? The guys that make mammals regret terminating others from their jobs without good reason?"

"I'm sure that won't be necessary, Wilde. After all, I'm sure Internal Affairs will take into account ALL of the statements, reports and testimonies." Even Bogo sounded like he was mocking Bucks.

"We do what we must. Until this is resolved, however, you are both on modified assignment," Bucks declared. "We already have your badges and your weapons."

Bogo sighed. "Talk with Rivers and Longtooth about your assignments. I'll make sure they give you something."

Judy looked dejected, and Nick was just barely masking the anger he felt at the mountain goat. Bogo could see it under the mask he kept up, but he doubted Bucks could. Or that he would even care if he did notice. The two left the office without another word.

"That kind of threat will land the whole department in hot water, Bucks, not to mention the fact that you said it right in front of me and their union representative," Bogo said. "You do realize that Wilde has Linus Ford on his side, right? I'm sure you remember Ford from when he took the department to court for firing Sergeant Hiram Johnson a few years back. It cost the city half a million dollars." The Cape buffalo crossed his arms and stared down the mountain goat.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have let this charade get this far, Chief." Bucks' voice was dripping with disdain.

"The police union will also be backing Hopps and Wilde up on this, Bucks. This isn't a fight you want to try to pick, whatever your reasons for doing so." Silverwolf added. He and Bogo both knew that Bucks was gunning for Bogo's position, however misguided that might have been, and they doubted the mountain goat would listen to reason and back off.

"I call it like I see it, you two. I'll take this to court if I have to."

"Jonathan Woolson, what do you have to say about this?" Bogo asked. All three of the mammals turned to the ram, with Bucks giving him a death glare.

A long silence ensued before Woolson finally broke it. "I think it's a clean shoot. Both counts. I don't think there's anything we can hold against them, Bucks." If looks could kill, Woolson would have been incinerated. Bogo could tell that Bucks wanted to rip into the ram right then and there. "Listen Bucks, I know you don't like Officers Hopps and Wilde, but really, you can't fault them for what they did. Maybe a little sloppy on the execution, but you saw the same things I did. They were stuck in a bad situation with no options. We can't fault them for that."

Bucks composed himself and huffed. "We'll be in contact with you later with our decision. Woolson, with me."

The two IA agents left the chief's office, leaving Silverwolf and Bogo, the former of whom had a smirk. "Think Bucks is about to tear Woolson a new one, Chief?"

"Or threaten his job. Better alert Mammal Resources about this. He might try and throw his weight around if he doesn't get what he wants." Bogo thought for a moment. "You know, this never would have worked if Bucks was a superior officer. This time, he was saddled with someone his equal in rank, so that even if he does try to throw his weight around, it won't do much good."

"From what I could tell, Bucks isn't really liked in Internal Affairs, any more than he was liked on the beat." Silverwolf was still smirking.

The chief thought for a moment. "That might work to our advantage if he gets reassigned or his assessment gets thrown out."

Elsewhere in the precinct, Bucks slammed a conference room door and turned to glare at the ram. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, Woolson?!"

The ram flinched but didn't back down. "My job."

"By undermining our report?! You realize what this could mean?!" Bucks started pacing. "It means that we'll continue to have inept, incompetent officers out there pretending to be good at what they do, and worse, an inept buffoon in the chief's chair!"

Woolson crossed his arms. "First, that isn't 'our' report. It's yours. You explicitly ignored my opinion and only wrote your own in there. Second, I didn't see any incompetency on Officers Hopps or Wilde's part. A little bit of newness on the job, sure, but not incompetency. If we get them fired, they could bury the department in lawsuits. As for Bogo, I'd be careful what you say around here. The walls have ears."

"You really don't want to cross me, Woolson. I thought you wanted to advance your career, not sabotage it."

"I do. But not by lying and yanking the rug out from under officers that were, as far as I am concerned, just doing their job. It's obvious you don't like any of those three, Bucks, but that's your own personal problem. Not mine."

"You will regret this, Woolson."

The ram raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a threat. You know, you tricked me into believing that this WOULD help my career at the beginning if I just sat back and let you take the lead. Now I'm regretting that and wish I'd spoken up sooner. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to write and submit my own report." The ram turned to walk away.

"You're really sticking up for the mammals who shot one of your own?" Buck couldn't resist one last jab.

Woolson stopped. "No, I am sticking up for the officers that ended a threat to their lives and the city." The ram left without another word.

Bucks stood in the ZPD hallway fuming. If that ram followed through with his plan, it would put a serious spotlight on Bucks' other cases. He doubted he'd be fired—he hadn't done anything wrong, technically—but it sure wouldn't help him get rid of the buffoon and take his rightful place as chief.

Swearing to himself, the Internal Affairs mammal headed towards the cubicle farm, intent on reviewing his report to make sure there wasn't anything in it that could be used against him.


Nick and Judy couldn't help but glare at their respective screens as they reviewed their case notes and reports from two weeks prior. Being on modified assignment didn't sit well with either of them. For Judy, it felt like she was back at day one on the job, even if Bogo was on her side this time. Nick's feelings were similar, though they came from a long history of prior discrimination, and Judy knew this.

"It'll be fine, Nick. Silverwolf and Bogo won't let this go on, and we'll be back on the beat in no time!" She paused and frowned. "Well, you'll be back on the beat. I'll still be here pushing pencils and telling my chest to heal faster."

The fox couldn't help the small grin despite the circumstances. "I hope so, Carrots. And when you're finally patched up, I expect you to be right out there with me. Kicking butt and taking names."

The doe thought for a moment. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any dirt on that Charles Bucks guy, would you?"

Nick thought for a minute. "Well, I'm guessing he's related to Xander Bucks. That mountain goat got rich on some pretty shady stock market deals. Mammals suspected that he had insider information and he made the trades based on that, but no one could prove anything, and he made a killing while others lost everything. And since no one could catch him, he did that for a decade or two before he retired at fifty-five. Last I heard, he was living in his private villa up in the mountains."

That got the doe's interest. "What sort of deals?"

Nick thought for a moment. "Well, the one that really springs to mind was way back about ten years ago. The Equinox Barley and Oat company. They weren't doing so hot, stock was bad, and out of the blue, Xander Bucks buys a large sum of their shares. A few weeks later, they had a big product launch, and the stock turned around almost overnight. That was really good for a while, until some allegations of mammal abuse came out, and the whole business collapsed. But Bucks sold his stock just days before those came out, so he got spared the loss."

Judy grinned. "You really do know everyone, don't you?" She thought for a moment. "I remember Equinox. The rabbit family on the other side of Bunnyburrow used to supply them with grain. When the company closed up, they had to find another place to sell their products. From what I heard, they ended up selling it overseas." She paused. "I wonder how they are doing right now, what with the lockdown on the rail lines and seaport."

"Speaking of which, how is your family doing? The farm, I mean?"

"We're doing OK. Dad always kept seeds for at least an extra two years of crops in case we had a bad year, but Mom tells me some of our outsourced supplies are running low. Diesel fuel, equipment parts, oil, wood for construction, things like that. If they run out, we'll have to find a way to replace the stocks, especially the fuel. That could get expensive."

"How bad?"

"Well, diesel fuel and equipment parts are the main concern. If we run out of parts, we can either store the equipment or order the parts from an international seller instead of through our supplier here in Zootopia. Fuel, on the other paw, is short everywhere until they open the shipyards to it. That's not something Mom and Dad can easily source elsewhere."

"Gotcha. I have seen gas prices around the city going up and figured the lockdown had something to do with it. I know we get most of our oil and gas from elsewhere. I just never bothered to find out where."

Judy mock gasped at that. "You, not knowing something like that? I'm…shocked!"

The fox grinned. "You should know by now that I know everyONE, not everyTHING."

Despite the circumstances, Judy couldn't help but laugh at that. "I think that stuff comes from somewhere up north, but I don't know where exactly. Mom and Dad would know. I never bothered to pay much attention to that." The doe winked. "It wasn't something I needed to know to become a police officer."

Nick couldn't help but chuckle at the bunny's jab at her own narrow focus on her goal.


The day continued uneventfully for most of the mammals at Precinct One. Nick and Judy were constantly greeted and welcomed back by the mammals coming and going past their cubicle. More than once, though, they'd seen Charles Bucks pass them by, each time with an expression of hatred on his face. Around two o'clock in the afternoon, everyone's attention was brought to the television as Bogo took to the press conference podium in the lobby.

It had become a regular expectation that the chief would make an appearance in the media around that time, usually to provide updates on missing and deceased numbers, as well as reminding mammals to stay at home unless necessary and avoid the Rainforest and Canal Districts altogether.

"Ladies and gentlemammals," Bogo began as he stared out at the sea of reporters that had been a mainstay for him in the last two weeks. One of the things he hated about the job was the public appearances and constant news conferences that he had to conduct as part of dealing with a disaster.

"Two weeks ago today, our city was put under mandatory lockdown—martial law—thanks to the horrifying attack on the rainforest district. Many of you have been without work and unable to even leave your homes since then. A lot of you have been wondering when we will start to relax our restrictions.

"I have been working with the city's fire chief, Bruce Pawrell, on outlining a plan to allow us to start returning things to normal. Opening the city will take time. We need to be sure that we as a police force can protect you, and in order to do that, we need to have an orderly reopening."

The chief shuffled his papers. "First and foremost, the Rainforest and Canals Districts are closed, indefinitely, to all residents and businesses. Infrastructure, telecommunications, utilities, and city employees will be allowed in under escort and with a work permit. Private individuals in those fields can apply for day permits through the city hall website. We have limited slots and windows, though, and regulations for that are posted on the site.

"Coming to the rest of the city—many of you know that we have opened the seaport to shipments containing medical supplies. Once those are taken care of, we'll move on to non-medical consumable supplies, like foods and fuel. Shipments not essential for life will be last. Starting tomorrow, the airport's cargo facilities will also be opened in a similar fashion, along with the courier distribution centres. Freight rail transportation will also be allowed to ramp up."

"In regards to the city itself, however, we have already opened the public parks. Pharmacies, grocery stores, and gas stations have remained open throughout the duration. We will start by allowing non-essential retail chains to reopen, followed by corporate offices that weren't closed, novelty stores and independent shops, and lastly, tourist and recreational facilities. Travel into and out of the city will be permitted on a limited basis once we see a reduction in active cases."

There was a general murmur of discontent. Tourist destinations and recreational facilities helped mammals to relax, and hearing they would be among the last things to reopen was discouraging. The Cape buffalo was undeterred. "We're still working to locate all of the mammals that went missing two weeks ago, though we are making progress. Unfortunately, we're still not sure of the exact numbers, but the most current ones are also on the city hall website."

He shuffled his papers again. "I know that you're looking for answers on the exact sequence of events two weeks ago. It's something we've been asked constantly the last two weeks, and unfortunately, the answer is still the same. The investigations are still ongoing. Once the investigations are complete, we'll be able to release more details. We ask that you please respect all of the mammals involved and let us do our jobs."

The chief squared himself. "I'll take your questions now."

The gaggle of reporters all started shouting their questions, trying to get the Cape buffalo's attention. He pointed. "You, there. Trent Hoofson."

"Yes, thank you. With ZNN, we have a question about the closed districts. Do you yet have a timetable for when the Rainforest District and Canals District will be reopened?"

The Cape buffalo shook his head. "Unfortunately, until an environmental assessment is done, we won't know for certain. After the assessment, we'll need to perform remediation efforts before the public will be allowed back in. Until then, the area will stay closed."

As the group started shouting at him again, the chief picked another reporter.

"George Tallex, Zootopia Weekly Advocate. Can you give us an update on the missing mammals? What's being done to take care of them?"

"Hospitals are working to take care of the savage mammals and the wounded, and we are still actively searching for any mammals not accounted for," Bogo answered. "I'd like to remind everyone that if you see a savage mammal, do not approach them. Instead, call emergency services from a safe location. These mammals may be anywhere in the city, not just in one of the closed districts, and they should be considered dangerous, even if you know them.

"That said, we are doing everything we can to locate every missing mammal, but we caution that we may never be able to account for everyone, living or deceased. If you know someone who is missing and hasn't been reported to us, please do so immediately. There's a form on the city's website that you can use to start the process, and it will tell you what you need to do next. Our emergency line is already overwhelmed, so I'd like to ask that you keep that line open for emergency calls only."

He looked over the group of reporters. "I have time for one more question." Once again, the reporters started yelling. "Yes, you there, Joey Williams."

"Ahem. Zootopia Broadcasting Corporation's viewers want to know when they can expect word from the mayor's office about assistance for businesses and individuals affected by this attack?"

"Mayor Clawheed and the city council will be announcing that this weekend. I am not privy to the details involved there, so he will be able to answer any questions when the time comes. I'm sorry I can't answer any more questions at this time, but you can email any you do have to the ZPD press corps or the city hall press office. Thank you."

In the break room, Judy breathed a sigh of relief. "That answers some of my concerns. If Bogo and Pawrell are opening up freight shipments again, Mom and Dad might get the supplies they need on time. And we might be able to have some visitors too. I know Maddy wants to come see us."

"Think she'll drag Gideon along?"

"Oh, that would be nice!" Judy grinned as the two headed back to their cubicle.


A/N

Judy's back in the house, and it looks like Bucks' plans are starting to unravel! Yay! No one I have spoken too likes that mountain goat!

Been a bit crazy work wise up here, but not the kind of crazy that makes money. Just the kind of crazy that...well...drives you crazy. On the positive side, more vegging out in front of the TV is in order, with MORE MANDALORIAN AND BABY YODA!

Check AO3 or Deviantart for A Ray of Hope's official Discord server!

No one found any references in the last chapter! Can you find any in this one?

Coming up November 13: Moving Forward!

Questions? Critiques? Did Miguel drag you over to the land of the dead too? Leave a comment!